Léo Caniaux: “Balancing effort and ego”

The size of someone's muscles can sometimes be inversely proportional to the size of their ego. Léo Caniaux, 22, with shoulders as broad as his smile, comments humbly on his own results : "I'm the French University Champion, which is great, but it's still small fry compared to other championships." Still, they're impressive! 145 kg in bench press, 225 kg in squat, and 252.5 kg in deadlift... Heavy stuff, as they say... And above all, a nice French championship title! The fifth of the year for this powerlifting team led by Dominique Sorgato.

"The fear of bubbling"

Still relatively unknown in France, powerlifting, often associated with weight training or weightlifting, "consists of repeating three movements with the heaviest possible weight," explains Léo. For each movement (squat, bench press, deadlift), the athlete has three attempts to lift the weight they have declared, always withthe fear of "messing up" in the back of their mind, in other words, "failing the first attempt, or worse, failing all three, which means disqualification! It's a sport where you have to balance your effort and your ego."

Passionate about rugby since the age of 14, it was through physical training that Léo Caniaux discovered his aptitude for powerlifting. Two years ago, this master's student in sports science, who briefly studied philosophy, left the field to devote himself to weightlifting. "It's a rapidly growing sport. Every year, the number of licensed athletes increases and records are broken." Léo's only regret is the sometimes suspicious attitude of the public and other disciplines: "People cry doping every time someone stands out from the crowd."

"Records are being smashed"

Strength training is now an integral part of Léo's life. He does four training sessions of at least three hours each week, not counting rugby, which he has never really given up, as he is responsible for the physical training of two teams in Nîmes and Lunel. "It's not always easy to balance sport and studies, but I enjoy it so much... " He plans to turn his passion into a career, as after completing his master's degree, Léo intends to become a sports trainer... And why not for rugby players!

UM athletes at the top of their game!

The University of Montpellier celebrates its medal-winning athletes at the World, European, and French University Championships during an annual ceremony organized by SUAPS. Read the profiles of these champions who juggle the demanding dual life of student and athlete. Read all the profiles...